alms, are the religious duties of a
Mussulman; and he is encouraged to hope, that prayer will carry him half
way to God, fasting will bring him to the door of his palace, and alms
will gain him admittance. I. According to the tradition of the nocturnal
journey, the apostle, in his personal conference with the Deity, was
commanded to impose on his disciples the daily obligation of fifty
prayers. By the advice of Moses, he applied for an alleviation of this
intolerable burden; the number was gradually reduced to five; without
any dispensation of business or pleasure, or time or place: the devotion
of the faithful is repeated at daybreak, at noon, in the afternoon, in
the evening, and at the first watch of the night; and in the present
decay of religious fervor, our travellers are edified by the profound
humility and attention of the Turks and Persians. Cleanliness is the key
of prayer: the frequent lustration of the hands, the face, and the body,
which was practised of old by the Arabs, is solemnly enjoined by the
Koran; and a permission is formally granted to supply with sand the
scarcity of water. The words and attitudes of supplication, as it is
performed either sitting, or standing, or prostrate on the ground, are
prescribed by custom or authority; but the prayer is poured forth in
short and fervent ejaculations; the measure of zeal is not exhausted
by a tedious liturgy; and each Mussulman for his own person is invested
with the character of a priest. Among the theists, who reject the use
of images, it has been found necessary to restrain the wanderings of
the fancy, by directing the eye and the thought towards a _kebla_,
or visible point of the horizon. The prophet was at first inclined to
gratify the Jews by the choice of Jerusalem; but he soon returned to
a more natural partiality; and five times every day the eyes of the
nations at Astracan, at Fez, at Delhi, are devoutly turned to the holy
temple of Mecca. Yet every spot for the service of God is equally pure:
the Mahometans indifferently pray in their chamber or in the street. As
a distinction from the Jews and Christians, the Friday in each week is
set apart for the useful institution of public worship: the people is
assembled in the mosch; and the imam, some respectable elder, ascends
the pulpit, to begin the prayer and pronounce the sermon. But the
Mahometan religion is destitute of priesthood or sacrifice; and the
independent spirit of fanaticism looks down wi